Process gets prototypes to engineers faster

9:54 PM,
Mar. 22, 2013

Bilal Ghalib works on 3-D printer at Autodesk's offices in San Francisco.

Written by

John Shinal
| Special for USA Today

When Ford Motor shows off the latest version of its hybrid car at an Atlanta auto show this month, its drive train and other key parts will be products of a new development process that's taken hold across corporate America and the world.

Rather than using custom machine tools to build early prototypes of new parts, Ford is now using 3-D printing technology to design and test its engineers' latest ideas. The new method allows product developers to have a prototype in their hands in as little as a week after they create a new design - compared with a previous wait time of three to four months.